We are proud to announce our first ever PRInceton Novice Tournament [PRINT]. This tournament will be taking place on December 15th, 2018. Our question set is the Pennsylvania State Academic Coaches Association's "Groundhog Day" set. The tournament will be taking place in either the Friend Center or McCosh Hall, pending availability. All matches will take place within the same building. I know many of you have been patiently awaiting this post, so I apologize for the delay .

ELIGIBILITY: As part of a goal to increase good quiz bowl in New Jersey, Princeton has been contacting many schools throughout the state that do not participate in mainline quiz bowl practices ("new" schools). These schools will take precedence over any "mainline" quiz bowl high school, as both a way to allow new schools a chance to register and to reduce skill disparities in the tournament itself. Although we're targeting NJ schools for this tournament, you don't have to be in NJ to sign up.

A "New" school is defined as having started playing pyramidal quiz bowl as early as the beginning of last school year, or if your school restarted playing after a long (years) hiatus as early as the beginning of last school year.

Remember that this is a novice tournament. You must send students who are actually new to good, pyramidal quiz bowl in general. We do not want this tournament to be a stomping ground for a couple of B/C teams of long-established programs. Any team that includes a player who has played pyramidal quiz bowl at the middle school level, especially - but not necessarily - at a nationally competitive level, should also probably not attend this tournament. We will be trying to ensure that all players are truly novices, but we expect all teams to adhere to this rule in good faith as well.

If you have any questions about eligibility, please email me.

FORMAT: Teams will play at least 8 rounds throughout the day. Teams will be rebracketed into playoff rounds, with the best teams playing an advantaged final, if necessary. Because of the nature of this tournament, we will probably not go beyond 9 rounds, saving 10/11 for a final.

REGISTRATION: Instead of using a Google Form, please email me directly (jacke at princeton.edu) and include the name of your coach/chaperone and any and all emails you would like me to send information to. Note that you may only register TWO teams at this time. These will be processed on a first-come, first-serve basis, but we will give precedence to new schools.

Payment can be made in the form of cash or a check on the day of the tournament. Checks should be made out to “Princeton University Quiz Bowl.”

LUNCH:Lunch will not be provided, except to staff. A number of eating options are available on Nassau Street at the north end of campus. Teams can also purchase lunch at the Frist Campus Center. Note that most places on Nassau street tend to be on the pricier side, so keep that in mind. If you plan on packing lunch, there are lots of tables in Frist Campus Center that you and your team can use.

So this tournament will be happening next weekend. We had an eight team field, but our 8th team appears to be on the verge of dropping. If you were on the fence about coming to this event, please email me ASAP and let me know if you're still interested. Again, the rules above still apply, but I would encourage you to at least ask. Please know that I am also contacting a few schools that I know do not use hsqb, so in the event they reply first, they will be given precedence.

Congratulations to Lenape Regional A, who won the tournament after 10 rounds and a final, going 10-1, and winning that close final against the only team that managed to beat them, East Brunswick A. We hope the teams had a great time!

For any teams that couldn't make it, we hope to have more of these in future years. Freshman and Sophomores were a majority at this tournament, for many of whom this was their first tournament. We'd love to host more tournaments that introduce students to good quiz bowl!